October 8, 2020
We're all about mushrooms today! We've got alternative packaging grown from carbon-absorbing mycelium and major fashion brands ditching cows in favor of fungus leather in 2021. Listen to The Optimist Daily Update with Summers & Kristy - Making Solutions the Read More...
Starbucks offers employees free rides to polling places
If you work at Starbucks and aren’t sure how you’re getting to the polls, you’re in luck. The coffee chain announced it will offer employees complimentary Lyft rides to polling stations. This includes voting in person, going to volunteer at voting stations, or even just a ride to the post Read More...
The votes are in! Meet the big winner of this year’s Fat Bear Week
Last week, we told you about the most body-positive competition on the planet: Fat Bear Week. If you didn’t catch that story, Fat Bear Week is a competition dedicated to the brown bears of Katmai National Park in Alaska. These bears have been eating as much as they can before the upcoming winter Read More...
Ambitious reforestation project will plant 3 million trees in Uganda
Successful efforts of reforestation and wildlife conservation typically go hand in hand with involving local communities in the process. Not only does this tap into valuable local knowledge around the issue but it also enables local communities to sustain these efforts in the future. This is Read More...
This brand grows its carbon-negative packaging from mycelium
To further minimize its impact on the environment, French brand Amen is now shipping its candles in carbon-negative packing made from mycelium and agricultural waste. Amen is already known as a sustainable luxury brand. They use natural wax from vegetable oil to make candles rather than an animal Read More...
Levi’s is launching a marketplace for your old jeans
Have an old pair of Levi’s jeans lying around? It could fetch you up to $25 if you bring it back to one of the brand’s US stores. In an attempt to embrace the circular economy, Levi has launched a new program in which the company buys old Levi’s jeans, cleans them, and sells them in a new Read More...
Adidas and Stella McCartney to sell products made of fungus leather by 2021
Recently, we covered a study that documented the incredible potential of fungi to replace animal-derived leather with a more eco-friendly and cost-effective alternative. Now giant retailers are joining forces to bring this bio-material to scale by investing significant amounts of money in a Read More...
Breath test detects 80 percent of cancer cases in first trials
Scientists in Australia have developed a special breath test that can quickly detect head and neck cancers with a high degree of accuracy. Around the world, head and neck cancers account for six percent of all cancers and kill around 300,000 people. Treatments can be effective, but that’s only Read More...
Chronic pain is difficult to treat, but yoga and meditation can offer relief
Researchers continue to unearth more and more benefits of yoga and meditation. If stress reduction, lowered risk of illness, and better sleep weren’t enough to convince you to roll out that yoga mat, researchers have now found that yoga and meditation can help relieve chronic Read More...
Researchers say the sustainable food of the future lies under the sea
Last week we shared a story about how more Germans are moving to a vegetarian or flexitarian diet. Cutting meat out of our diets means replacing this protein and fatty acid source with a nutritional alternative, but what are the most sustainable alternatives available? This is exactly the question Read More...